GENERAL'S AT WAR WITH WORDS

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Not so long ago, he said we should pull out of Iraq "some time soon". Now he says the services must prepare for "a generation of conflict" with a "strident Islamic shadow".

For the sake of those under his command, I hope he is a better soldier than he is a wordsmith. He loves the sound of his own voice too much. But not even his flowery language can disguise military reality.

Gen Dannatt speaks merely of achieving "some form of success in Iraq" and "significant achievement in Afghanistan".

Victory? Forget it. In plain English, he has privately given up hope of winning either war. I say privately, because his remarks were solely intended for MoD brass hats, made public only after a Freedom of Information request.

No wonder he wanted his speech kept quiet. He admits that the trust and respect of the British public could be "increasingly difficult to gain". I'll say so.

His message will not bring much comfort to the 5,650 British troops withdrawing to their last base at Basra, presenting a single target to the Shia militias massed around them. Nor will the disappointing refusal of Gordon Brown to contemplate an early withdrawal from Iraq, citing unspecified "obligations".

What obligations? Saddam has gone. The Iraqis have had almost five years and millions of taxpayers' pounds to organise police and military forces.

It's their country. Let them run it. If it's a bloodbath, at least it won't be British blood.